Cobra Kai creators reveal Hilary Swank declined to join show: Disappointing

Hilary Swank said thanks, but no thanks.The creators of the hit Netflix show “Cobra Kai” have revealed that they tried to get Swank, 50, to appear in the popular “Karate Kid” sequel series.But the Oscar-winning actress, who played Julie Pierce in 1994’s “The Next Karate Kid,” politely declined.“Cobra Kai” creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg opened up about the situation during a sit-down with Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday.“We did reach out in the very early days before the season to see if there was a path,” Heald said, revealing that they approached the actress shortly before the show’s sixth and final season began production in 2024.“We had an inkling of an idea about how she could come into this story and not have to commit to 10 episodes or something,” he continued.“It was going to feel like it could be a one or two-episode arc, similar to what we did with Elisabeth Shue,” Heald added, “where you can bring Ali back in at a pivotal moment and affect an important relationship.”Shue, who starred as Ali Mills alongside Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso in the original 1984 “Karate Kid,” reprised her character for the last two episodes of the Netflix show’s third season.Although Heald, Hurwitz and Schlossberg did reach out to Swank’s reps to find out if they could have a discussion with her and introduce themselves, the trio never even got that far.“On her end, it was very respectful, but we never got that opportunity to sit down and pour our heart out the way that we typically do when we bring back characters from the legacy,” Heald explained.

“She was just in a place where she wasn’t looking to do that.”“She had had babies.I think she was in production on something at the time, and it was a respectful pass on even the idea of a meeting,” he added.

“She didn’t want us to go through the trouble of flying out to her and putting our heart on the sleeve because it just wasn’t...